Getting the Swing of Things

This weekend I volunteered at a picnic and Daddy had some quality time with Little Miss.  They decided to go to the park and hit up the swings.  Looks like she liked it.

Afternoon Fun

I don't want you to think that our afternoons are all filled with making Little Miss walk Huckleberry and do other work.  Sometimes she enjoys chilling in the wagon

or hanging out by the fountain dancing.

Either way, we manage to have fun.

My Pumpkin Discovers Pumpkin

When I lived in Indianapolis I discovered pumpkin bagels with pumpkin spread.  It was heaven and every fall I frequented Einstein bagels to get my fill.  I was sad when I moved here and there was no Einstein at first, but one opened up a few years ago in a far away suburb.  Hubs took me when I was only a few months pregnant with Butterbean.  We managed to get some last year as we drove through Indianapolis for Thanksgiving, but this year we plan to stay home.  The drive is so far I've been dreading doing it with Pumpkin, but hubs came to the rescue.  Apparently, they opened one not far from his work and he surprised me one day with a dozen bagels and spread.  We've been rationing them out and enjoying them immensely.  We have always offered and she has always refused, but this morning Little Miss decided that she was ready to give them a try.

She loved them!  Of course, we only have enough for one more day.  I wonder if she'll remember them next year.

Stop! Smoothie Time

If there's one thing Little Miss loves, it's food (and Huckleberry).  But for this post, it's food. I recently mentioned that I wanted to start including her more in the kitchen.  She's interested and there are times when it's not difficult to have her help.  It turns out Little Miss is an excellent smoothie-maker.  I add the water, she adds the banana.  I pour in the chia seeds, she drops in the protein powder.  I add flaxseed meal and she adds giant handfuls of spinach.  She then watches me add the frozen fruit and puts on the top.  

She holds her ears and signs all done while I turn on the blender and put away the fruit.  Then I pour it into a cup, add a straw and we enjoy it together.  Typically, I hold it while she sucks it down and I occasionally ask her for a sip, which she'll oblige with a little break.  Now, when the cup gets towards the bottom, she wants to hold the cup herself and drink.  She's getting so independent.  

We are so blessed with a daughter that loves healthy food. 

Who You Calling Turkey?

Every time we start out on a walk at our local park I ask Little Miss if she thinks we'll see more or less than 5 deer.  They're prolific, and we're always sure to spot at least a few.  When we went a few days ago, the deer were difficult to spot until the end, but there were tons of wild turkeys.  Little Miss was enthralled and insisted on going off the normal path to check them out closer.

All in all we spotted 10 turkeys, 8 deer, countless squirrels and 1 monarch butterfly.  It's fun to tell Daddy about our adventures over dinner- it's a nice excuse to have to remember all that we saw.  Little Miss is actually becoming the expert spotter.  I was beginning to think that we weren't going to see any deer.  In the last 1/2 mile, she spotted several of them laying down in the brush and pointed them out to me.  She has keen eyes, that one.  

TGIF- The Down Dog Edition

Because sometimes you just have to stop in the woods and do some yoga.

A Daily Dose of Puppy

Taken on a recent walk:

Look, she's picked up an extra client:)  She's so serious about her job.